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2014-03-04 - Mardi Gras Shenanigans!
Soundtrack for the scene: http://8tracks.com/accmusique/let-the-good-times-roll-in-new-orleans The noise. The sights. The smells and the crush of the crowd. Floats of all sorts decorated in purple, green, and gold, with people in costumes on them flinging beads, fake coins, and small trinkets to the crowd. Drinks sloshing, people screaming, whooping, cheering. "THROW ME SOME BEADS!" a particularly busty college co-ed already bedecked in the cheap strings yells from right near where the troublesome triplets (Remy LeBeau, Bobby Drake, and Piotr Rasputin) are standing to watch the parade. And the girls. Especially the ones that are being rather enthusiastic in their desire for things to be thrown at them. By enthusiastic, we mean topless. Laissez les bons temps rouler-- let the good times roll. It's Mardi Gras: Fat Tuesday, the celebration starting as Carnivale in Europe; brought over to Mobile, Alabama and given a new name; and then perfected in the French Quarter of New Orleans. A celebration of excess... excess drinking, excess eating, excess sex, drugs, and rock and roll... well, jazz and zydeco, for the most part round these parts. In theory, it's to get out all the misbehavior so the next forty days can be spent in penitent goodness. In practice, it's just a damned good excuse to party. And people from around the world fill the city to party. They say 'what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas', but whoever said that? Ain't never been to Nawlins. Remy LeBeau isn't exactly unpopular with the bevy of intoxicated ladies-- he's tall, he's got that serious bad boy look going for him, and he's got black and red eyes. Plus, his accent marks him as a local, and he's charming when he wants to be. And boy, does he want to be... which is why there's a half dozen girls in the early twenties gathered around the triplets. "Are you a /vampire/?" one asks Remy breathlessly, looking at his eyes. Another, blonde and skimpily clad, is bickering with a strawberry blonde friend about whether its okay to try talking to the big buff guy in whatever smattering of psuedoRussian she learned from watching spy movies. A brunette in a midriff is snuggling next to Bobby batting her eyelashes. "I'm /cold/," she teases. "You should warm me up." If only she knew. How did she get into this? How did she get roped into this? Someone has to babysit the others. And the rest of the team has already scattered to the four winds in what might be 'SplitsVille' as they've gone far and wide throughout the French Quarter and left her high and dry without so much of a 'here's my commsignal if there's an emergency'. And here she is once more.. Caitlin Fairchild, designated driver. God knows how many frathouses Grunge is going to be ejected from, how many joints Roxy will smoke, how many beads Rainmaker will end up nabbing from other girls. And here she is. The music is so booming and loud that even reciting Stephen Hawking's Addendums to General Relativity is not helping with getting the banging out of her head. So, skulking through the streets, the two meter or so tall redhead just commiserates. Harley Quinn is on a vacation. She managed to convince Waller to let her go, as long as she didn't break her babies out of the zoo for the 20th time. To Mardi Gras, of all places. Otherwise Harley would have just been moving around Thunderbolts HQ - since today was the anniversary of the day she and Joker met. So she's at Mardi Gras in her outfit. Complete with uzis, sledgehammer strapped to her back, and this gorgeous little purse she managed to save up for. And hanging on some hapless person, talking his ear off. Harley sighs, arm around him. "Y'know. First time I came here was with my Puddin' - it was so romantic...." She rests her head on the stranger. "I mean ... he was filling beads with mind control gas pellets which would cause them to go insane and start killing each other if the mayor didn't pay him 10 million dollars ... but we were getting drinks and we were going to have pancakes after, and he was so dreamy...." She looks over at him. "Whatyernameagain?" Well, if you're going to enjoy a break, why NOT Mardi Gras? Zinda Blake is not flashing people, mind...but then, that's not her best asset and given she's currently wearing a fairly revealing minidress, her best asset is well and truly on display as she weaves through the crowd. She LOOKS fairly sober, which probably means she's only about three quarters of the way to blind drunk. Looks like the two bickering girls are out of luck as Harley beat them to it. Piotr looks over at Harley "You have an interesting imagination," he says with a smile. "And my name is-" he begins to give the Russian version of his name but stops short. "Pete," he says in his accented voice. "My name is Pete." "Non, chere," Remy gives the girl a wicked grin. "Not a vampire-- prefer ta drink dis," and he holds up a large plastic cup with a fruity, slushy concoction in it. Don't hate... it's about 30% 151, and he's on his third. Or fourth. And there were the shots from earlier. Whatever. "Wanna see a magic trick?" he asks the girls, pulling a couple of playing cards from within his trenchcoat. This isn't going to go well. And sure enough, drunk Gambit charges the cards until they are glowing with magenta light. He keeps them in hand for now, though, mostly amusing the girls. He'll throw them later, if it amuses him to do so. Caitlin Fairchild is currently annoyed. By her standards. And her outfit is still on and her mood is foul enough that she's actually being given some personal space. Well by the standards of Mardi Gras, at least. Her mood is about as agitated as her hair is, and she's honestly debating ignoring some of her personal restrictions when it comes to smashing things. Harley Quinn grins up at the stranger she just came up to and started hanging all over. Feeling his arm, she says "Nice muscles! I'm gonna call you Muscles, ok Muscles?" When he finally gives his name, she says, "I have an interesting everything, Petey. I mean... Muscles. But yeah... I really miss my Mistah J. But he just wasn't no good for me, y'know? It was always 'Harley! Where's My Bazooka' and 'Harley! Tie up those people!' and 'Harl! Batman's not coming, put back those jewels!'" She looks at Piotr. "I mean ... really... a successful heist and cause his boyfriend doesn't come to the party, he just decides not to go through with it. I thought he was jokin' Honestly I did!" She frowns a bit. "Yeah I'm much better off without him. Straight and narrow and law abidin' for this gal!" She motions her hand forward. Then looks up at Piotr. "Feel like getting plastered and seeing how many public indecency laws we can break before cops come?" The sound of 'Batman's name turns the head of one particular minx named Catwoman. Of course, there are likely enough other females, men, too, dressed as various heroes in one facet or another. Her toys tucked safely away, but easily retrieved if needed, Selina Kyle turns her attention towards Harley and Piotr. And, in the form-fitting catsuit, stalks towards them with sultry steps. The zipper on her outfit is plunged low, and that in itself, perhaps, has earned her a few strands of beads that she presently wears about her neck - gaudy collars of glimmering, shimmering plastic purples and golds and greens. She smiles, warmly, delightedly, at spotting Harley, and gives the femme fatale a finger wave as she nears, her eyes shifting to drink in Piotr's rather large form. "Someone ordered a drink of tall, dark, and handsome." Piotr nods along with Harley's rambling about Mistah J and takes a long sip from his slushy-boozy-drink. "Hmm, yes, I am very strong and this Mistah J does not sound like a good man. You are definitely better off without him." When the offer to get sloshed and to break decency laws he considers it for a moment before he shakes his head "That sounds fun," he checks out Harley. "But you see these two here," he gestures to Bobby and Remy. "I am how you say their babysitter tonight. I must be responsible." Though when Selina joins them he takes her in as well and swallows. Outnumbered now, this was unfair. "She is friend?" he asks Harley before he swallows and says "I suppose more drinks could not hurt." Lady Blackhawk also spots the person-dressed-as-Batman. She rolls her eyes, then she spots Gambit, drunk, with powers. Sigh. Changing course, she moves through the crowd towards that little might-need-defusing situation. Not that she's sober herself, but... Remy's eyes slide up and down Selina's form very overtly appreciatively, and he grins. "Hello, dere..." and he lightly flicks the cards towards a passing float, nicking the top of the impossibly ugly clown sculpt with a kinetically charged 'boom'. "Non, Petey, mo' drinks cain't hurt. An' Ah'm sure yah got dis..." he looks around, smirking, and giving Zinda a rather appreciative look as well. She's passing by idiots passing along with more drunken idiots. Fairchild lets out a sigh. HOw did she get talked over into it? She passes by what -looks- like it's Grunge and.. Some sort of green thing that looks vaguely like a money. She decides she doesn't want to know more. Harley Quinn smiles when she sees Selina. "Hey Catwoman!" she says, letting go of Piotr's arm. "Stay right there and keep being muscle-y, Muscles." She gives Selina a big hug then a kiss. Mwaaaaaaaaaaaah! "Whaddaya doin here? Too bad Pam ain't here or the whole gang could be together! She's sorta still on probation. And this..." She motions at Piotr, "This is Muscles. I think he's gay but I'mma gonna try to get him to switch teams. Lemme know if you wanna help!" Then she sees a guy go past in a clown mask and sighs, longing for you-know-who. So she snatches a cup from a passerby and downs whatever alcoholic beverage thing is in it. Bobby Drake looks like he is having trouble deciding where to look. Wow, look at her! Or over there! Wait, are those real guns? Good costume. Whoa, now That is a catsuit. He comment by the brunette gets a laugh, and He says something back to her quietly, a hand resting on her back. Whatever the joke was, it was apparently better in his head, because she yelps and decides to go find someone else to lean on. A frowning Bobby watches her go, then focuses on the two girls sidling up to Pete, "See, Pete, I told you the whole tall, square jawed wall of muscle thing was going to work for you down here." The two former Gothamites each get a friendly, if somewhat drunken, smile, "I'm Bobby." "Harley, you always did have a knack for finding the treats, didn't you? Mmm. Ivy's too busy being green." Her full mouth quirks with the nuances of her witty remark. And, she kisses Harley back, warmly, before slipping her arms away from her friend and winking to Gambit. "A true frenchman. And someone with a sense of style. Things are looking up," she purrs, low. Her eyes sweep over towards Piotr, then. "But I'm sure you don't want to be called 'Muscles' all night, do you? You can call me Kat." Again, that wide, sensual smile. "But I'm not working on getting anyone to trade teams tonight. Girl scouts honor," she assures Piotr. She can't help but see Bobby staring, too. The slick X-Man is given his own smile. "Such a pleasure to meet you. Let me guess. You boys heard there was a party, and came to distribute beads to all the ladies who were without?" Lady Blackhawk actually rolls her eyes at Gambit. "I know it was ugly, but you made it even more so," she jokes to the mutant, trying to defuse what could turn into a quite nasty situation. Powers being thrown around in this crowd? Bobby Drake responds to the question with mock-seriousness, "Nah, we're just in from a passing circus. We've got the magician ringmaster..." a nod to Gambit, "... The Strong Man..." that would be Pete, of course, "... which leaves me as the clown." He grins and looks her over, "Though I'm suddenly considering working with big cats instead." "Gay?!" Piotr exclaims. "I am not gay," he says he looks over at Bobby and Remy for support. "You know I am not gay," he says. Though going to the boys for that confirmation may not work for him all that well. Anyhow he looks back to Selina, composing himself and clearing his throat "My name is Peter," he says though his accent makes it sound like the Russian version of his name. "Your friend, she is the one who is calling me Muscles," he looks down at his arms and shrugs. "Though I suppose it is accurate." He smiles. Remy snorts at the comment about 'switching teams'... giving Piotr a sidelong look. "Not dat dere's anythang /wrong/ wid dat, Petey," he says with a dark, almost cruel grin. He glances over Zinda, and chuckles. "Eh, what can ya do?" He winks at her. Passing on, the pickup line used by Bobby almost makes Fairchild twitch. Almost. But she's been propositioned by worse. But the night is wearing her down. And she knows with dread that it's only going to get worse. Harley Quinn looks back at Selina. "I'll do it myself then. nyaaaaah." She looks over at Piotr. "Whether you're looking for a man or a woman or moose and squirrel don't matter much to me honey. Like Frenchie there said, not that there's anything wrong with it." Then jumps at Piotr. Whether she's caught by him in his big, muscle-y arms or falls on the ground is up for debate. It's still impressive that she can jump around like that with a sledgehammer-looking mallet strapped on her back. "Oh, I've no worries that you will," agrees Catwoman to Harley, bemused. She shifts her position to face Bobby, looking at the young man delightedly entertained. "Yes? You do know the inherent danger in that, don't you?" Her eyes don't miss Caitlin, and she can't help but laugh at the woman's reaction to Bobby's pickup line. She seems about to tell Bobby just, exactly, what's wrong with that when a rugged looking man, half-drunk, seems to stumble into Selina bumping into her casually in the throng of people. There is a quick, "Pardon me, ma'am," in thick southern dialect, but Selina's hand is already reaching out to snag the wrist of the man, twisting it behind the man smoothly and effortlessly, wrenching it tightly. She's looking at Bobby as she says it, but might as well be talking to them both, "If you aren't careful, you become the prey." And pinning her knee into the man's side, muses directly to him, "That. Wasn't very nice, now, was it? You should apologize." She plucks small, velvet bag off the fellow. "You really shouldn't go taking things that belong to you, and get caught doing it." The would-be pickpocket looks up to Selina-- and his eyes light on Remy. "/You/..." he hisses. Remy focuses, looking at the man. A spark of recognition for a moment, and then it quickly smooths away. "Me, mon ami? Ah think ya got me mistook for someone else, eh?" "Moose?" Piotr asks Harley with a quirked brow before suddenly there is a whole lot of acrobatic clown coming his way. He drops his drink on the ground as he scoops her up into his arms cradling her between his two well-muscled arms. He smiles down at her bemused. "I did not think Remy was being serious when he said women would throw themselves at me." He misses most of the exchange between the thief, Selina and Remy but he sees someone glaring at Remy and well that's nothing new. "Lovely, just when the night is getting fun," he mutters to himself, though for the moment he doesn't put Harley down. "Droppin' drink is alcohol abuse, Petey," Remy says idly over his shoulder to the bulky Russian. "Mebbe we bes' get ya another." Bobby Drake watches as the pickpocket gets folded up, a little bewildered, alcohol-fuzzed brain still working on the whole prey thing. He watches the interaction with Remy for a moment, and his brain seems to kick back into gear. He looks over at Pete for a moment, though keeping his eye on the developing situation, "Gee, Pete, I think maybe she likes you?" He grins, but his attention is quickly redirected, eyes scanning the crowd wiht very different intent than they were before. Harley Quinn, now in Piotr's arms, squees. "Yeah Muscles. You know... Moose and squirrel. I can be your Natasha, Boris. You know.. except less Wednesday Adams-ish." She pats Piotr's firm shoulder. "We'll get you right out of that closet, believe you me." She adds, "Not that there's anything wrong with that." She peers over at where Selina stops the pickpocket, then back at Piotr. "See, that's an amateur when it comes to pickin' pockets." She pauses then asks, "Would you be into a little roleplay? You know with maybe some whiteface and a little makeup here....." She motions at his mouth." And then ruffles his hair a little. "Dye the hair green maybe?" Then gives Piotr a kiss, right on the lips. Mwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! Selina stands up, letting the pickpocket up, and slipping the velvet bag beneath the safety of her zipline bust, smirking as she does it and blowing a kiss to Bobby, too. She briefly looks to the pickpocket. "Shoo," she tells the pickpocket, dryly, "Before I lose my good mood." And then she's turning to tell Harley, "You're not supposed to play dress up until your -second- date, Harley," but it's said with a certain amount of affection. But Remy? Remy gets Catwoman's attention the most, in a far more subtle way. Sure, the Cajun is playing it cool, but there's something in the undercurrent there. And you don't get to be a thief of her caliber by missing cues like that. Piotr sighs and well he'd rub the bridge of his nose if he didn't have arms full of Harley, also the kiss distracts him, because well Harley. "Um," he begins. "I am not sure out of closet means what you think it does, and um, I am not in closet to begin with, as I am not gay." He frowns at the roleplay talk. "Roleplay, with the little dice? I do not understand." There's a sigh from Fairchild, sitting in the background. Oh how she wishes she could really, really get drunk. But she's underage. Plus she likely couldn't get enough kegs. Bobby Drake is trying to stay focused here. It is not working so well. He cracks up laughing, both at Harley's kiss and Pete's reaction. "OK, I take it back, Pete. She Really likes you." More laughter from him, "Uh, Pete? Not that kind of Role play. Think Emma. And it sounds like she wants the strong man as the clown instead of the funny man." He drains his drink. The pickpocket scrambles to his feet, disappearing into the crowd. Remy gives Piotr and Bobby both a broad smile. "Well, les go get Petey a new drink, eh? He needs a new drink. An' we shoul' possibly not be in dis exact spot no mo'." For reasons. Lady Blackhawk glances at the group...and shrugs, heading to get a new drink herself. Pickpockets? She's not worrying about them...unless they mess with her, at which point they might well get a somewhat nasty surprise. Catwoman is still on high alert, her eyes shifting here and there, as if there was a need to be. "Such interesting people," she murmurs, putting herself near Bobby, while looking towards Gambit. "You must have one of those faces, hmm?" No. She's never been one to leave things alone, the temptations a bit too great. She ducks her head, tells Bobby in a quieter, but still stage-whisper type voice, "Harley's a -very- determined woman. I'm sure Pete will have fun with her. Or she with him. But as for you? Well. Not even a top-hat, or a whip? I'm disappointed." She winks towards Zinda, then. "Just don't ask me to be your DD," she cheerfully tells the pilot. Lady Blackhawk laughs a bit. "Nope. I don't ask anyone to be my DD. That's why I booked a hotel room." She grins at that. Bobby Drake bursts out laughing at Selena's comment, "Well, maybe I should have a whip, but you put me in a top had and I think theses two... " He gestures to his friends, "Would be on the floor laughing and never let me live it down. You live with the nickname Frosty, you avoid top hats." He grins at her, but turns to follow Remy's suggestion of being elsewhere, quickly. He taps Pete on the shoulder and gestures with his head, "Come on man, when Remy says we have better places to be down here, we have better places to be!" He pauses, "No reason we can't bring the ladies and get fresh driinks all 'round, right?". Caitlin Fairchild's hand almost smashes up to her face, but she restrains her impulse then over at the multitude of very, very bad pickup lines surrounding her. Or worse the fact that said lines seem to be working. Grunge would be proud.. Harley Quinn looks over at Bobby from Piotr's arms. "If I wanted funny, I'da stayed with my Puddin'. I mean sure... he would shoot me ... and beat me up.... and hit me with the car..." She puts her finger to her chin to think. "And shoot me again. Oh and there was the time he threw me out of that 6th floor of that building... oh and the thing with the shark tank. And when we first met and he tried to sick the babies on me..." She pauses and sighs, resting her head against Piotr. "But he sure could tell a joke." Long pause, then she looks at Bobby. "So I think this time around I'd rather have a straight man." She looks back at Piotr. "Or whatever... you know. Not judging." Piotr looks over at Remy. "So we are going?" he asks him with a frown. "Who was that man?" he asks. Harley though, Harley gets a long look and a furrowed brow "Your old boy friend sounds like a psycho, not that it is my business. As for the straight thing I assure you I am," he says patiently looking down at Harley. He hasn't gotten tired of carrying her yet. Who was that man? More like, who is the blonde woman slinking up behind Remy, grabbing him around the throat, and yanking the tall man off his feet, slamming him to the ground violently. The cajun looks up, drunk and dazed. Then he forces a smile on his face. "Chere, Ah can explain--" Belladonna looks down at the man. "Good to see you, Remy. You know you aren't supposed to be here." Her tone is moderately friendly, but anyone with half a brain can see the woman is on the edge of murderous. "...oops?" Remy gives her a winning smile. That's about when all hell breaks loose. She's outside. She's seeing.. "DAMMIT." Fairchild sees the strangely eyed man being dragged away towards a dark alley with what she had earlier assumed to be contacts in his eyes.. And she moves to follow. Right in time as she's suddenly intercepted by a trio of men going out of the shadows to make sure the Warrior Princess' time with her ex is not interrupted. "THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE MY VACATION!?" The cry likely doesn't get far in the chaos. Harley Quinn blinks. "Woo! MARDI GRAAAAAAAAAAAAS!" she yells at the ensuing chaos, where Gambit is getting attacked and dragged away. "Looks like your friend there's getting all freaky in the deaky!" she points out to Piotr, holding onto him. Bobby Drake has his attention turned back to Pete for the moment, "You know man, there's only one way you're going to convince that lady you're straight, right? Just kiss her like you mean it until she believes you..." And then Remy's getting slammed on the floor. Taking this in, Bobby notices a number of dark figures moving against the flow of the parade, and angling in towards Remy. That... does not seem good. How to cause a massive distraction in the middle of a Mardi Gras parade? Well... Bobby has one idea. He pulls back his arm and moves it towards the crowd like he's throwing something. And although there is nothing in his hand, about 50 sparkling white strings of Mardi Gras beads fly out over the crowd. OK, so these particular beads are really cold to the touch, but that's not something that people know as the jump, reach, and otherwise clamber for them, turning the crowd in that direction into a nearly impassable barrier. Which gets the "normal" people mostly looking in that direction as Bobby turns to race after the woman dragging off Remy. "Apparently you -do- just have one of those faces," remarks Selina towards Gambit, as apparently all hell does break loose. She looks remorsefully at Bobby. "Sorry. It looks like our witty back-and-forth flirtations will have to wait. Just a little bit." She doesn't have her toys with her, unfortunately. But, she does know trouble when she sees it. "Harley. Let's stick with the boys, mm? Come on, Zinda. I know you came here to have fun." She doesn't interfere, just yet. But, she appreciatively watches Bobby's control and distraction of the crowd. But, curiousity has killed her before, and she simply has to know what the hell is going on. Besides. MARDI GRAS. She follows Bobby - and not because his pickup lines worked. The woman slamming Remy into the ground isn't odd, actually it is pretty normal, except that it isn't Rogue. Piotr looks to Bobby with a look that says we should probably do something about this. Then, suddenly he shifts into his metal form, growing a foot taller, and a whole lot shinier he looks down at Harley, as a trio of assassins come out of the crowd at them. "May I borrow your hammer?" he asks her nodding to the mallet on her back. Emerging from a shop, with some cheap trinket in her hand, Rogue catches the sight of frosty white beads flying through the air. However, unless the rest of the masses, she actually follows with her eyes to the source of the beads. "Why, dat lil..." Whatever choice words Rogue has for Bobby disappear from her lips as she sees Bobby turn and run after an all-too familiar male figure being dragged off by...another woman?! "Ah'm gonna kill him! Right aftah Ah save him..." The trinket drops to the ground as Rogue runs after Bobby and Remy. And...ninjas? Zinda's on vacation...but that doesn't mean she's not up for a fight if she has to. She flickers a grin, a nasty one, and moves towards the closest of the figures. She's not armed. He is. Time to, well, fix that. He's surely got knives in that gear somewhere. Harley Quinn looks at Piotr. "You can borrow my hammer if I can borrow yours later." She nudges him. "If you know what I mean. You know what I mean right? Do you know what I mean?" She nudges him more. Then adds, whispering, "Your penis is the hammer." She winks. Harley is the mistress of subtlety. Then she flips out of Piotr's arms and takes out her hammer to lend it to him. The knives the assassins toss are likely coated with potent neurotoxins designed to paralyze and not kill - the assassins likely are going for more 'make sure there's no interference' and not 'rack up high level civilian bodycount' to start with. Two knives hit Fairchild, bounce off, and tear the shoulder strap of her flimsy shirt. "DAMMIT." Language young woman! Which is then accompanied by Caitlin grabbing one assassin, swinging him like a rather unwilling and likely rather surprised bludgeon to hit the other two, then tossing her improvised ninja to hand combat weapon through a wall. Harley Quinn leans over to Selina. "Did my new boytoy just become a metal guy? Just checking that my drink wasn't spiked." "Bella, chere, Ah can 'splain--" Yep, it's Remy, and his tricks are pretty much stay the same regardless, as his ...wife? They probably ain't actually married. Maybe. Something like that. Look, it's complicated. But his slurring is cut short by a solid punch to the face. "Shut it, Remy. I'm bringing you back to Daddy." Well, that won't do. The cajun shakes his head, trying to clear it. Probably, in retrospect, not had quite so many drinks. Or shots. Or shots in drinks. "Welcome to New Orleans," Catwoman answers Harley in her own way. She bends backwards, smoothly and effortlessly to avoid a knife throw, then moves up onto her hands, wrapping her long lean legs around one of the assassin's neck, pulling herself up onto his body, and constricting him while she slams a hand into his head. As the assassin topples, she's already unwinding, and she calls to Zinda, "Whatever happened to southern hospitality?" "Harley. I think one of them just said they had better jokes than Mister J. Not sure which one." There's an impish grin on Selina's lips, as she says that. Bobby Drake finds his way blocked by two guys in black who are learly the size of Pete before his change. Apparently, they were told to make sure Bella wasn't followed. Well, that won't do. Running straight at the guys, at the last moment Bobby drops into what looks like a baseball slide. "Time to play bowling for badguys." The words are nonsense for a moment. And then the flesh and bone Bobby is gone, and there's a man made of ice, sliding on a frozen pathway into the two bruisers, who go sprawling into the crowd on either side as Bobby regains his feet past them, "Hmm, looks like I picked up the spare." And the chase continues. Piotr lets the hammer joke slide by. This was time for serious business jokes, and, ahem, other things would wait for later. Grabbing the hammer he swings it low at the assassins feet to sweep them down. Two get hit, the other jumps it, but Piotr grabs him out of the air and casually throws him into one of the passing floats. He moves on leaving the other two assassins getting to their feet to Harley and Catwoman as he goes after Remy. Though as he goes he looks down at the hammer in his hand. "All I need is sickle and I am walking sterotype," he remarks to himself as he rushes after Gambit, he jumps over Bobby's 'bowling pins' and follows him down the alley way at a full, and noisy run. This is my hammer, this is my gun. One is for pleasure, one is for pun. Her route over into the alleyway to pursue the strangely assaulted man is cut off then by the shadows themselves - it seems that some of the toxin from the blades actually did hit her, and Fairchild's face turned purple as she flailed, arm ending up going halfway through a building as her system battled with a toxin otherwise designed to incapacitate normal humans. Harley Quinn watches for a bit while her MetalGuy throws her hammer at them. "See now, Selina," she murmurs quietly in Selina's ear, "That's stamina." Then blinks. "They what? Who? Why I'll..." She takes one of her uzis off the clip and yells, "HEY! MOOK GUYS!" as she aims her gun at them, and squeezes the trigger. At which point a little pole sticks out the end of the muzzle, and a little flag drops down from the pole. Rat. A-Tat A-Tat. She looks around. "What, it's a setup..." THEN the pole fires at them, but misses everyone, embedding itself in the wall behind them. ... Then explodes. Because that's what happens to poles that are compressed C-4 with an impact charge on the end. As she runs, Rogue slides off a glove, her eyes flitting quickly to see just exactly who she can borrow from. As an assassin steps out to try to subdue her, a slight grin plays across the southern belle's lips. There's a quick strike from the assassin, a straight-forward strike meant to knock Rogue down. She sidesteps and grabs the arm, sliding cloth just enough to touch fingers to skin. The assassin notably slows down, as if weakened, only to be chopped down by Rogue with some impressive ninja skills. When she resumes the chase after Remy, it is with a notable difference. She's light on her feet, as if she just got a lifetime of ninja training downloaded into her in seconds. Which is exactly what happened. "Cute," remarks Catwoman, after Harley's explosion takes out two of the thieves guild mooks. As one of the assassin's attempts to thwart her from continuing, she ends up getting slammed into the back with a foot. She spins, quickly, roundhousing the individual back, then ducking low and sinking to legsweep another. "Just like old times," she calls to Zinda and Harley. "But, Wildcat's going to be upset he missed this." She glances back up, "Where'd they take the cajun?" Looking to her friends - old and 'new', to get some guidance. And, noting Fairchild's -- rampage, mutters, "I really hope she's on our side, or we're in trouble," under her breath. Why is the mallet exploding? It must be the drugs. Up to her elbow in tenement building Fairchild heaves, spasming, right over as she takes a serrated bowie knife to the back of the spine. The blade shatters then, getting a few light cuts on her as her eyes flashed with pain, fists flailing. Coming out of the building she had braced herself on in delirium as Fairchild swung, large blocks of stone, brick and mortar still stuck on each hand, missing the assassin by a mile. Bobby Drake gets a knife chucked at him from out of the dark. Which has considerably less effect on him than one of his snowballs has on a normal person. They at least feel the snowball. The knife just deflects off the ice with a "clink", and Bobby says, "Really?", and keeps going to the alleyway where Bella and Remy went. Not everything is so ineffective though. The old buildings of New Orleans have been through a lot. Shockwaves from C4 gag guns and fist-propelled flying debris are a little too much for the building to his right, and its corner rains a shower of bricks . He gives a help, and throws an ice barrier above him, unfortunately creating more of a barrier for Colossus behind him. Harley Quinn murmurs to Selina, "Should I shoot at the redhead too, just in case?" Then stops. "Wait... gotta get my hammer, it was a present!" Then does some cartwheels into the fray to try to find where Piotr threw it amidst the wall debris and rampaging redheaded amazon and ninja assassins and iceballs. "Aww righ', Bella..." Remy can see straight. Well, he's down to only seeing double. A quick shake of his hand, and he bo slides down out of his sleeve. A spin and it's full-length. Then he moves. Even drunk, he's amazingly agile, and the bo sweeps, knocking Bella's grip loose and allowing him some freedom. "Mebbe comin' home for a parteh wasn't mah bes' idea," he admits as he rolls to his feet. This is the panel where they are totally facing off in the alleyway. Only Remy's a bit drunk, so he's likely losing this one. Piotr throws a hand up to ward off falling debris and skids to a stop when he runs up against Bobby and the ice wall. "Well this is going about as good as usual," he remarks to Bobby when he stops. "You see where they take Remy?" Well, that ice barrier does no favors for Rogue either. However, part of her new-found skills is an rather amazing talent for free-running. She angles herself towards the corner where the ice meets the building and leaps back and forth, bouncing her way up and over the wall. She somersaults down to the pavement and sprints to catch up to Bobby. "Warn a gal before ya throw roadblocks up, sugah..." Caitlin Fairchild has her dander up, swinging stone encased fists around. The wild blows miss, but she's starting to shake off her delirium. A fist smashes to the side of the other building, fist again half caving in through a wall and shocks her a bit back to normal. If her blow had connected she would have reduced the men attacking her with knives ineffectively to a fine mist or caved in their chests. SHe's not out to commit murder with her abilities. At least not today. With a semblance of cognizance also comes control and focus, and she starts holding back her blows, but also controlling them, eventually grabbing two of the men over into a back bruising and nearly breaking bear hug before tossing them to the side. Lady Blackhawk has managed to get a couple of ninjas on her. She doesn't quite have them outnumbered and is rather busy right now. A third is already on the deck, groaning. Looks like she got him somewhere, oh, sensitive. Catwoman's claws come out -- literally. And, she uses them to scrabble and pounce, utterly cat-like, in animalistic beauty and agility, over the broken building and brickwork into the alley where she last saw the Cajun being drug, just barely dodging at the knifework of one of the assassin's blocking their path and leaving room for Belladonna to make off with Remy. Catwoman counters with a slash across the knife-bearing arm, and an elbow slam into the girl's kidneys, and moving on. "Try to keep up, girls!" She encourages her fellow Gothamites. She'll be in the panel, along with a few of the others, just before the action starts between Remy and Bella, a second or two too late. Harley Quinn spots her hammer on top of one of the unconscious mook assassins that Piotr threw it at. "There you are!" and she runs over to pick it up and give it a kiss. "Not like Mistah J gave me much but at least I got this right?" The mallet has one end that has written on it 'You are here' with an outline of a face on it. When one of the mooks runs at her, she presses a button on the handle. At which point the head opens up, a boxing glove filled with cement, on a coil, springs out of it and hits him in the face. "I really miss ya, Puddin." she says as she stuffs the glove back into the hammer's head amidst the chaos. Iceman responds to Rogue, "Hey, it was raining bricks, give a guy a break." Then he blinks and shakes his head, turning to Colossus, "Wait, when did she get here?" He pauses, "And do we really want to be down that alley with Remy, his ex, and Rogue?" It's not a serious question though. A push of his hands forward, and his impromptu barrier rapidly becomes a staircase on both sides (with nice textured stairs for the non-ice footed. When the building to his left shakes, he pauses to look up, which prompts an "Uh oh." making himself a zigzag path of footholds on either wall, Bobby goes up to deal with the two shadowy forms he just saw on the roof Piotr looks up and spots the mooks, figuring Bobby can handle it he moves on, taking the stairs three at a time and trying to gain ground on, Remy, Rogue and the mystery blonde. "Sounds like band," he muses to himself as he drops down on the other side and breaks into a run with long strides trying to make up time. A pair of assassins jump out of the woodwork to block his path but Piotr runs right through them. For now at least he is on the move. Caitlin Fairchild ducks, weaves, and wobbles. THen the other strap of her shirt gives out, and she yelps as it falls on down and floats away. A drunken reveler tosses some beads at her with a loud belch and, "Woo HOo!" Dammit that's Rainmaker! "Not like yer gonna stop me, Frosty..." And, it certainly looks like nothing is going to stop Rogue. She seems much too determined to be stopped. She jukes to the left, taking her now-gloved right hand and shoving a waiting assassin into the path of the steel juggernaut that is Colossus. The action doesn't even slow her down, as if she knew that there would be someone there. A knife flies from the darkness of a corner, which is barely dodged, but still she advances. That's her man that was carted off, and Rogue is going to remind people of it. Gambit reaches into his coat, withdrawing a trio of cards, charging them and flinging them at Belladonna's feet. She leaps back-- obviously aware of his skills and techniques-- and throws two knives at him. "Ain't goin' wid ya, chere," Remy says, dodging one of the knives, deflecting the second with his bo. "Ain't real keen on seein' yer daddy." "Wouldn't think so," Belladonna replies icily. "Since you ran out of the wedding." Lady Blackhawk is also moving towards that alleyway, having finally disposed of her dance partners, but she's a bit back behind the others. Whatever's going on, she doesn't like it. Too many civilians in the way. "Ah'm pretty sure you're dead," Gambit slurs. She killed herself, right? Yeah. She did. "So 'm pretteh sure ah'm drunk and you ain't you." At this point, she's long since lost track of the man she was originally following. Here, in the chaos of the crowd and the other meta-humans and mutants meleeing marauders, Fairchild realizes she's out of her element, and without backup more than peripheral awareness. Her hesitance has her hanging back a few too many moments, and any chance of catching where Gambit had been absconded with was lost as she turned towards some of the blasting from the direction of the cat and the clown girl. Catwoman slows, as she comes to stand by Gambit, warily. She keeps her distance, some, from him, and from Bella as well. She puts herself almost at a triangle's formation. She knows there's a story. And she's unsure what's going on, but what she does know? She doesn't like having her parade being rained on. "Let me guess," she asks, wryly, warily, "Unresolved issues?" On top of the building, Bobby finds himself in the middle of a turf war. Apparently, there's not just one group of baddies, there's two, and they don't like each other much. Or at least, they're willing to fight over who gets to do what to Remy first. Unfortunately, both groups do agree on what to do about an outsider who walks into the middle of things. There's a lot of noise up there, though between Mardi Gras crowds, and the battles going on below, who can tell? Apparently, Bobby did something impressive up there... as it's now snowing in the Alley, and the street in front of the building. Wedding?! Did she just say wedding??! Rogue's eyes widen in surprise, then just as quickly narrow into slits as she shouts out, rather loudly. "Ah'm gonna kill him!!" Yup, Anna is none too happy. She doesn't slow, though, bursting on the scene just as Remy explains, in perfect Remy logic, that the estranged fiancee is a figment of his drunken imagination. Sure she is… Harley Quinn looks over at the now murderous yelling southern belle. "I like her!" she says to no one in particular, then looks at a mook who's still standing, so repeats it again. "I like her. Oh... here." She takes a ball out of her purse and tosses it to him, then puts on a mask. At which point the ball sprays knockout gas in every which direction. Then loooks at what's going on with Rogue. Piotr arrives just in time to hear the W word as well. "Wait? Remy is married?" he asks just before the gas grenade goes off. In metal mode it isn't going to effect him, but the others not so much. He reaches down to grab the ball and hurls it across the city towards the water. He looks to Harley "You'll knock us out too," he warns. "Just hit blonde with hammer." Belladonna sees the backup Remy is gathering, and curses under her breath. She throws down a smoke pellet and vanishes further down the alley to come back and cause problems another day. The smoke doesn't do well for Remy's smoker's lungs, however, and the man lets out a few wracking coughs before looking around, seeing Rogue, in particular. Well, two Rogues. Two and a half. "...all dese pretteh ladies, an' only one Remy," he says, leaning on his bo staff... to look cool, totally not to keep himself upright. Harley Quinn looks at Piotr as if that didn't occur to her. Or maybe because as long as it knocks the bad guys out too - er... the badder guys - then it's all good, right? "Awww.." she says when Piotr throws the gas grenade away. She salutes to Piotr. "Gotcha, Iron Giant." then, aided by the fact that there's still a good amount of smoke around, jumps and flips around to get closer to the blonde who she was told to hit by the future Mr.-Harley-Quinn-If-He-Gets-The-Iron-Rod-Out-Of-His-Butt. She whistles at her. "Hey you! STOP!" Then swings her hammer around at Belladonna. Who's married and who's good and who's evil and who is on the next episode of Jersey Springer is past Fairchild's awareness. But as she sees a clown swinging a hammer over at a blonde Fairchild isn't sure who she's supposed to be punching. Nameless assassin's guild member #487 throws himself out of nowhere between Belladonna and the hammer meant for her, allowing the woman to make good her escape. Silly nameless assassins. As the puff of smoke rises up, Rogue slides to a halt. A hand waves in front of her face, fruitlessly trying to clear the air. Seeing that one of her quarry has decided to run off, she turns on her heel, and makes a beeline for Remy. As Rogue reaches the tipsy Cajun, her foot lashes out in an attempt to kick away the bo staff support being used as a crutch. "Doncha think dat just because yer drunk yer not gettin' away wit' anythin', Frenchie. We're gonna have ourselves a nice lil talk when ya sober up and yer gonna tell me of all da girls ya almost married..." The words are a bit breathless...after all, she just finished a dead sprint...but still, there's fire behind them. "Oof!" Without his support, Remy isn't exactly upright anymore. What is it with women in his life putting him on his ass? Harley Quinn yells as she hits nameless Assassin #487, "HAMMER TIME!" You know. Because she said 'STOP!' beforehand. Then pauses. "hey wait wrong person..." She looks around. "Where'd she go?" Then looks over at Piotr. "See this is why you use knockout gas!" She walks over to Piotr, putting her mallet over her shoulder. "Cmon..." she says, taking his hand. "Need to go pump some iron." she says. Even though Colossus is steel, not iron. But Harley Quinn is a reformed criminal. Not a metallurgist. With the gas gone and Rogue, ahem, taking care of Remy. Piotr shrugs and takes the offered hand. "Guess things are wrapped up here?" he asks Bobby even as Harley tries to drag him off. Bobby Drake slides down from the rooftop, resuming human form back on the ground, "Yeah, I think so. Though there may be a few thugs up there who require medical attention. Or at least a lot of hot water bottles. " He sighs, "And I think transforming purged my system. Dammit, I have to start drinking all over again."